Hydraulic engine



5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 26. 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 001:. 26. 1960 June 4, 1963 c. BATAILLE 3,092,085

HYDRAULIC ENGINE Filed Oct. 26. 1960 Illllllik H 8 --.v.......- E

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States Patent 3,092,085 HYDRAULIC ENGINE Claude Bataille, Ermenonville, France, assignor to Societe a responsabilite limitee dite: Ateliers de Poclain-Bataille & Fils, a French society Filed Oct. 26, 1960, Ser. No. 65,044 Claims priority, application France Nov. 13, 1959 Claims. (Cl. 121-61) particularly simple reversal of operation: it is in fact sufficient to transpose the intake and outlet of fluid on the upstream side of the distributor.

The present invention provides an improvement in this type of hydraulic engine characterized by the possibility of obtaining a variation of the speed of rotation as a result of the modification of the volume of fluid introduced in the cylinders of the engine by virtue of a device which is incorporated in the engine itself.

The device referred to above consists essentially of a system of shutter-valves which cut-oft the conduits supply- I ing the cylinders or so-called main cylinders thereby putting these latter out of circuit.

In the form of embodiment which is described below, the shutter-valves are small pistons, the movement of which is produced by the action of a pressure of fluid on one of the faces of the piston, the fluid being taken from a by-pass of one of the cylinders.

In the accompanying drawings, a form of embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated by way of example only and not in any sense by way of implied limitation, in which:

FIG. 1 is a general oross-section through the axis of the engine taken along the line 1-1 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a transverse cross-section taken along the axis II-II of FIG. 1 (it can be noted at this point that the pipe 20 located at the bottom portion of the main cylinder 2171 has been purposely deformed so as to make the drawings more easily understood, as will be clearly explained in the description).

FIG. 3 is a transverse cross-section of the cylinderblock taken along the line IIIllI of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-section of the cylinder-block, limited to the axis of this latter and taken in any of the directions IV, IV and I of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates a cross-section of the cylinder-block, limited to the axis of this latter and taken in any one of the directions V and V of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 illustrates a cross-section of the cylinder-block, limited to the axis of this latter and taken in the direction VI of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a transverse cross-section of the distributor taken along the line VIIV'II of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is an axial cross-section of the distributor taken along the line VIIIVI-II of FIG. 7.

For the sake of clarity of the description, the speedchanging device forming the object of the present invention will be described after a short summary relating to this type of engine and its method of operation.

The engine is essentially constituted by a frame 1, in the interior of which rotates a cylinder-block 2. Seven "Ice radial pistons 3 supplied through a distributor 4 are displaced in the said cylinder-block. The rotation of the cylinder-block, which is coupled to the output shaft 5 of the engine, is obtained by means of moving systems mounted on the piston-heads and effecting a rolling movement on a cam 6 which is fixed to the engine frame and comprises eight corrugations 6a.

The moving systems referred to above are constituted by two ball-bearings 7 fitted on to a shaft 8 which is acted upon by the piston-head.

The engine additionally comprises a number of other particular features which are made apparent by the description which follows below.

The engine frame is provided on its righthand side (as shown in FIG. 1) with a fluid inlet 1a and a fluid outlet 1b which open into the interior of the two channels 1c and 1d constituting the admission and evacuation chambers of the distributor 4, which is fixed to the engine frame by means of studs 9. O-rings 10 ensure fluid-tightness between the two chambers 10 and 11d. The distributor is essentially constituted by a series of eight circular orifices 4a which open into the chamber 10, are spaced apart at regular intervals and regularly alternated with eight other circular orifices 4b which open into the chamber 1d (as shown in FIG. 7).

An opening 1e in the casing of the engine frame has the function of an overflow and is connected to the tank containing the fluid which has already circulated in the engine.

The orifices 4a and 4b referred to above are successively put into communication through the admission pipes 2a with each of the seven main cylinders 2b of the cylinderbl'ock. Furthermore, the arrangement of the said orifices is so designed that when the pistons 3 are at top deadcentre and at bottom dead-centre, there is neither any admission nor any evacuation of fluid.

When the main cylinders 2b are supplied with fluid, the pistons are displaced, thereby starting the rotation of the cylinder-block and thus driving the engine shaft. It should be noted that, for each revolution of the engine, the pistons will carry out a certain number of movements of travel equal to the number of corrugations of the roller-track cam, while the combination of eight corrugations and seven pistons additionally ensures perfectly smooth and flexible starting.

When the cylinders are no longer supplied, in particular as a result of the action of changing speed, the operation of which will be described below, an elastic strip 11 restores the pistons to bottom dead-centre.

As has been stated above, the speed-changing device which constitutes the object of the present invention works by etiecting the variation of the cylinder capacity of the engine.

The said device is essentially composed of the following members: a distributor 12 mounted co-axially with the cylinder-block 2 is operated by means of a rod 13 on which is mounted a roller-bearing 14 which permits the rotation of the distributor. The said distributor puts the main cylinder 2121 and the small secondary cylinders 2d into communication as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, through a pipe 20 which is provided with a non-return valve 15. The displacement of the piston 16, the lift of which is limited by a lug .17 forming a stop, takes place in the said small secondary cylinders.

The distributor 12 referred to above is provided with a certain number of circular grooves 12a in which there is housed a ball 18 applied by a spring 19. This device provides a means of maintaining the distributor 12 in a fixed position with respect to the cylinder-block 2, at least in the axial direction.

With each of the main cylinders 2b2, 2b3, etc. there is associated one of the secondary cylinders 2d2, 2613, etc. However, the cylinder 2121, which serves as an intermediate fluid-tank for the operation of the speed-changing device, is not associated with any of the cylinders 2d for the reasons which will be made apparent in the following paragraphs.

In order to describe the operation of the speed-changing device, we shall first assume that the distributor 12 has been thrust down to the bottom of the housing 2e provided for this purpose. In this position, the extremity 12b of the distributor exposes the supply orifices 2 of the secondary cylinders 2d which are then placed in communication with the casing. There is consequently only a low pressure in the cylinders 2d and the pistons 16 are held in their position of rest by an elastic strip 20. Under these conditions, all the main cylinders 2b are supplied as has been described in the first section, and the operation of the pistons 3 ensures the normal rotation of the engine.

If the control-rod 13 is drawn in the direction of the arrow A, the extremity 12b of the distributor is held by virtue of the ball 17 which is brought into one of the grooves 12a, in a position such that the supply orifices 2 4, 2 5, 2J7, are again in communication with the casing while the orifices 21 2, 2 3, 2f6, of the corresponding secondary cylinders 2d, as shown in FIG. 4, put the said cylinders into communication with the annular space 21, which is supplied :with fluid through the pipe 20. The pistons 16 of the secondary cylinders 2d2, 2e13, 2d6 are then lifted and shut-01f the admission pipes 2a while uncovering by means of a port 160, the evacuation orifices '2g2, 2g3, 2g6 of the main cylinders 2b2, 2123, M16 which can thus be emptied into the casing. The pistons located in those main cylinders 2b which are no longer supplied with fluid are then brought back to bottom dead-centre by the elastic strip 11. This arrangement prevents the corresponding moving systems from knocking against the cam 6.

If the contrlrod 13 is again pulled either once or a number of times, additional main cylinders 2b will be put out of circuit, while the cylinder capacity of the engine is correspondingly reduced.

In the form of embodiment which has been described, four speeds corresponding to the operation on 7, 4, 2 and 1 cylinders are made available for a given rate of flow of fluid. In fact, the three cylinders 2122, 2123-, 2116 shown are successively put out of circuit. It is obvious that in FIG. 4, followed by the two cylinders 2b5 and 2117 shown in FIG. 5, then the cylinder 2b4 shown in FIG. 6, the number and position of the cylinders 21; which are put out of circuit depends solely on the orientation of the supply orifices 2 and on the number of grooves 12a in the distributor 12. These two parameters can be fixed according to the designed speeds of operation of the engine.

What I claim is:

1. A hydraulic motor of the piston type comprising a rotating cylinder-block defining a plurality of main cylinders therein, a piping system supplying said main cylinders and comprising one supply pipe for each main cylinder, a distributor adapted to supply pressure fluid to said piping system, and a speed-changing device comprising shutting-olf means for shutting-01f at least one of said supply pipes of said piping system and means for selectively actuating said shutting-off means, the speedchanging device selectively determining the main cylinders to which the fiuid is supplied.

2. A hydraulic motor as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means for selectively actuating said shutting-oil? means is constituted by means for supplying pressure fluid to displace said shutting-off means to close the supply pipes of the corresponding main cylinders and elastic means acting on said shutting-off means to open said supply pipes of the main cylinders.

3. A hydraulic motor as claimed in claim 2, wherein said device comprises a second piping system mounted as a by-pass on the supply pipe of one of said main cylinders, the pressure fluid which operates the shutting-off means being delivered by said second piping system.

4. A hydraulic motor as claimed in claim 3 wherein said means -for supplying the pressure fluid comprises a distributor mounted coaxial-1y with said cylinder-block and having an annular groove to provide hydraulic communication between said by-pass of said main cylinder and said shutting-01f means.

5. A hydraulic motor as claimed in claim 1, in which said shutting-off means comprises a secondary cylinder for each main cylinder, a piston slidably supported in each said secondary cylinder, and wherein one supply pipe of each main cylinder opens into a corresponding one of said secondary cylinders.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,457,100 Horton Dec. 21, 1948 

1. A HYDRAULIC MOTOR OF THE PISTON TYPE COMPRISING A ROTATING CYLINDER-BLOCK DEFINING A PLURALITY OF MAIN CYLINDERS THEREIN, A PIPING SYSTEM SUPPLYING SAID MAIN CYLINDERS AND COMPRISING ONE SUPPLY PIPE FOR EACH MAIN CYLINDER, A DISTRIBUTOR ADAPTED TO SUPPLY PRESSURE FLUID TO SAID PIPING SYSTEM, AND A SPEED-CHANGING DEVICE COMPRISING SHUTTING-OFF MEANS FOR SHUTTING-OFF AT LEAST ONE OF SAID SUPPLY PIPES OF SAID PIPING SYSTEM AND MEANS FOR SELECTIVELY ACTUATING SAID SHUTTING-OFF MEANS, THE SPEEDCHANGING DEVICE SELECTIVELY DETERMINING THE MAIN CYLINDERS TO WHICH THE FLUID IS SUPPLIED. 